Return of the Trio Rewritten
by Twylen Writes
Summary: The Night Dimension is rebuilding itself after the events of JoD. A new but familiar dreamer is now adventuring through Nightopia for herself, but ends up meeting a few mysterious nightmarens on the way. Each are powerful in their own way, but will they be able to stop Wizeman and his minions together?
1. Chapter 1

**A/N:** I'm back, finally. Just like Ben's I have rewritten my side of the story. I hope you enjoy!

 **Prologue**

All was silent in the Night Dimension ever since Wizeman was defeated, but soon, Nightmare and Nightopia began to reform and some of its original content, nearly lost before the tyrant's defeat, returned. Nearly destroyed locations, like the Nightmare Plaza, rejuvenated. The old castles of each realm returned with their inhabitants, and Nightopia and Nightmare were equal in strength, size, and power. As the World of Dreams began its recuperation, a new, but familiar dreamer started her journey into Nightopia.

 **Chapter 1:**

It was a gray, snowy day and Bellbridge High students were heading out of school. Winter holidays finally arrived, and kids were jubilantly jogging back to their houses.

"See you Raya!" Maria called back to her friend. Maria Taylor was a year 12 at BHS. She was heading over to the middle school where her brother attended. She trudged across the street through the slush and snow, walked up the path dodging several groups of friends, and approached the entrance of the school, where Will, and his friends sat around a bench.

"Hey, Maria," Jake, an American friend of Will greeted in a seductive manner, winking.

"Hello, Jake," she sighed.

"Hi Maria," Andrew, another friend greeted timidly.

"Hey, Andrew," the elder teen smiled kindly.

All of Will's other friends greeted her, and she smiled back at them. "Maria, may I go to Jake's place to hangout tonight? It's Friday, and it's not like I have to do homework," Will pleaded.

"Sure," she sighed. Will grinned, and stayed with his friends. Maria left, and walked back home alone.

After walking for a few minutes, Maria finally reached her house. She stepped up the stairs, pulled the house key out of her pocket, and opened up the front door. The girl entered her house, took her jacket and boots off, and scurried upstairs to her room where her computer sat. She opened up the laptop, and turned it on to check how her new articles and compositions were going on her blog. Nice compliments, and some small critiques appeared in her notifications. Maria let out a big yawn, releasing the tensions of a big day full of tests. She decided not to spend too long on her computer, and take a nap before her dad got home.

The teen set her laptop back on the nightstand, and curled up into her comforter. As she quickly drifted off; a scene of a childhood memory from when she was in primary school filled her mind:

Her mother was in her old bedroom, sitting in a chair, reading Maria a bedtime story, and the woman was laughing kindly, but slowly it turned into a cynical deep low snicker. The lady's eyes turned from blue to red, and the room faded to darkness.

All that Maria thought was, " _Oh no."_

Mrs. Taylor, gradually transformed into three-or-so shadowy creatures, which darted at Maria. The teen's instincts kicked in, and she began sprinting away from the monsters as fast as she could. Just as the girl contemplated giving up to the quickly approaching threat, a bright, warm, blinding light evaporated the creature, and she escaped into the light.

As she dashed to the source of this positive, welcoming energy which came with the light, the glow began to fade into a vast plaza with an enormous, elegant castle. Around the plaza seemed to be the remains of other buildings which deteriorated over a long time.

" _Am I still sleeping?"_ Maria asked herself, since she certainly felt like she was awake, and very conscious. She took a few steps and turned around to confirm she had complete, conscious control of her body. The girl looked up, and now saw a hazy, dark red fog covering some of the road. After pondering what was behind the fog, the teen refocused her curiosity to the beautiful, ancient structure beside her. With nothing stopping her, she turned, and headed inside.

The first thing Maria noticed when she entered the castle was how old it was. Lots of the marble that made up the building was cracked and broken, but Maria found it breath-takingly beautiful. Many hallways parted off the foyer, but instead Maria chose to climb, up a flight of thin spiral stairs. After reaching the top, she found a hall that led to two black doors, but dismissed it for another hall that glowed slightly indigo. She walked down that hall expecting to find a door, but was met with a dead end.

" _Well, that was pointless,"_ Maria thought to herself, but as she began to walk away, her hands emitted a white light, and the dead-end disappeared. The hallway faded away, and replacing it was the cramped cave with a moss-covered floor. There seemed to be only one way out, down a little slope and through a small hole in the rock with light pouring out. The teen cautiously slid down the path, and crawled through the tight hole, and had to squint as she pulled the rest of her body out of the hole due to the bright, _moonlight_? A bright full moon illuminated the white stone of the cliff she climbed out of. She slowly got up as her eyes adjusted, noticing a clear path that scaled the cliff from where she was. Maria slowly walked up the path around a bend, and up the cliff where she approached two double doors which nearly blended into the cliff face. " _Hmm… Two double doors. This is very strange, and I don't know what's behind them, but where else is there to go?"_ Maria thought.

She grasped some indentations in the doors, and pulled them, neither one budging. " _Guess I have to try harder,"_ she shrugged. The girl once again grasped the indentations, and pulled back with her full body weight. As she pushed with her legs, the doors clicked, and she fell backwards as the doors slowly opened themselves. She crawled back as the doors threatened to scratch her legs. Taking another moment to take in her surrounds, she looked down the path that lay behind the doors, which gradually darkened, but she could make out the beginning of a staircase which lay at the end.

Maria got back up, and paced through the doors. As she passed under the archway, the doors began closing behind her making her want to run back out, but she suddenly felt a comforting feeling coming from up the stairs begging her to follow. She mindlessly began following the strange aura, and began trekking up the stairs.

" _Am I almost there, wherever 'there' is?!"_ Maria furrowed her eyebrows in determination and began walking faster, but soon, she was startled as an aquamarine light blinded her. She carefully opened her eyes to see that the steps had ended.

Before her there was a circular room. At the center was a pedestal with a baseball sized pearl which reflected the blue, aqua, and purple light radiating from the walls and a shallow pool of water. Maria began walking into the room along the small peninsula which led to the majestic pedestal.

" _This pearl must be important if it's a room like this,"_ she thought, looking at the shallow pool surrounding her. She suddenly felt that same comforting aura she felt earlier radiating from the orb.

" _Come closer,"_ a voice echoed through the room. The voice sounded almost musical mixed with the sound of trickling water from the waterfall-like fountains on the walls.

Maria looked at the pearl where the voice seemed to resonate from, and carefully reached out. As her finger were about to graze the surface, she suddenly stopped. " _What if this is some sort of trap like you find in a tomb?"_ she thought to herself. But once again, the voice responded, " _Don't worry. I don't bite."_

As she rested her hand on the orb, the orb began to lift into the air. Wisps of blue and silver light began to burst out of the sphere and spread through the air amorphously. After a few seconds, the light began to form a humanoid shape, and then with one last burst of light, turned into a jester like creature with ram-like horns.

"Hello there!" the creature greeted cheerfully. It looked up and down its body with its indigo, blackhole eyes. "I'm Twylight."

"Uh, my name's Maria," the girl replied, thoroughly intrigued by the mystical creature before her. "May I ask, what are you?"

Twylight smiled and responded, "I'm a nightmaren. I'm a creature created by Wizeman in order to steal ideya from humans and conquer Nightopia."

Maria backed away cautiously, having heard, "steal...from humans, and conquer". "And may I ask, where am I? All I remember is going to take a nap, and suddenly appearing in this dream-like world."

Twylight looked around, and began looking anxious. "This is, I think, Nightopia, maybe Nightmare, or is it the World of Dreams? It is either Nightopia, Nightmare, or the World of Dreams, or some sort of combination."

Maria started feeling anxious in response to the unclear answer. "You're not sure? You seemed so sure about what you are, and you're clearly from here."

Twylight clearly seemed to hear annoyance in her tone, and began pulling their limbs into a fetal-like position. "I really don't know. It's quite complicated," she replied softly.

"Can you explain?" Maria requested.

"I'll try," the nightmaren sighed. "I'm a creature who was made to cause humans nightmares. The details aren't really clear, but I think that's the gist."

The teen expected a longer, more in-depth explanation, so she began asking more questions: "What do you mean by unclear?"

Twylight was silent for a second, but soon replied: "I don't really have a lot of memories. All I have is very unclear surface level memories, except for a few things."

"And what are those few things?"

"I have two other counterparts," they began. "Together, we form another nightmaren, that was so powerful, that Wizeman, our creator couldn't control us, so he broke us up, and we are now separate beings." It sounded like Twylight was finished, but as Maria began to reply, Twylight began again. "I carry the ability to transform into other creatures, and the ability to teleport."

"You can transform and teleport?" Maria questioned. Twylight nodded. "Show me," the girl stated.

An indigo gem on the jester's forehead began to glow, and the nightmaren's body turned to light, like before. The light then shaped into a very a human shape and with one last burst of light, a dreamer with silver hair appeared before her.

Maria was amazed at the transformation, and gazed up and down the nightmaren's new form. "Like it?" Twylight asked.

"Like it, it's amazing! I never thought that I'd ever see anything like it," she replied.

"Then let me show you my teleportation." This human version of Twylight poked the air next to her, and abruptly, a huge portal appeared.

As the two were about to go through the portal, Maria felt a nudge against her shoulder, and heard someone saying, "Wake up Maria, time for dinner."

"I'm coming," Maria mumbled, but she didn't mumble it in the dream world, but she mumbled in her normal body. " _This is weird."_ She thought to herself, but then she heard Twylight reply, "What's weird? You fading?" Then, she fully returned to reality, and groggily got up from her nap, nearly falling as she got up from her bed.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2:**

Maria walked out of her room, and slowly trudged downstairs. The girl slowly turned the corner and saw her dad placing a bowl of spaghetti, a small pot of sauce, and broccoli on the table. Before walking into the kitchen, she went into the bathroom and washed her hands in cold water to wake herself up. As she walked out, she saw her dad sit down at the table and wait for her. She finally sat down, and her father began to serve her.

"You had quite a nap, I see." Her dad smiled as he put the noodles on her plate.

She replied with a muffled, "Mhmm."

"You didn't even wake up when I knocked," he chuckled scooping broccoli right next to her spaghetti.

"Yeah." She smiled, poking around at her pasta.

"Did you have some crazy dream?" he questioned.

"I think so," the teenager replied, pouring sauce onto her noodles.

"You know, your mother used to have crazy dreams. She used to tell me them once she woke up, but honestly, I can't remember what she said."

Maria nodded in response. She would have loved to reply with something endearing about her mother as well, but honestly, she didn't have much memory of her since she was stuck in a coma soon after Will was born and died a year later due to her father losing hope that she'd ever wake up.

"So, Will's at Jake's?" he questioned, changing the topic.

"Yeah, he says he's gonna hang out there for the night," she replied.

"I don't know why Will idolizes that kid. He is a show-off and a doesn't seem to work hard," her dad sighed slight frustration.

"Well, Jake is very good at getting his way socially, and has talent."

"But talent doesn't mean you're hard working. Hard work goes much further than talent. I hope Will knows that."

After finishing eating, Maria went back up to her room, quickly checked on her writing, and went back to bed, hoping to maybe find Twylight again. As she dozed back off, she wasn't chased by those creatures again, and instead she appeared back at the plaza in front of the castle. Now getting a bit more used to feeling completely awake but asleep, she opened the doors to the foyer once more. She walked up the steps where she now decided to go down the original hallway with the black doors. As she reached the end, she pushed open the doors, her hands glowing red.

Maria had high hopes for what was behind those doors, but instead, it was nearly empty with nothing but a small box inside of a glass casing. Maria was about to approach the box when she heard a familiar voice behind her.

"Maria, there you are! You disappeared right as I was going to show you my other power."

"Uh, I woke up. My dad called me down for dinner," the teen answered.

Twylight looked at Maria with confusion. "Is it some special human ritual?" they asked.

"I guess you can call it that," Maria shrugged.

"Well, now that I've found you again, I guess I should show you my teleportation." Twylight flew closer Maria, and poked the air once again. A portal grew from under their finger, and Twylight stepped aside, to let Maria enter first. "Where does this portal go?" the human asked.

"I don't know," Twylight shrugged. I don't exactly have much experience of this place.

"Okay then," Maria chuckled, stepping into the portal.

As she stepped out of the portal, Maria felt a crunch underneath her foot. She looked down, and found herself in snow a foot and half deep. Behind her, Twylight glided through the portal which closed shortly after.

"This place is amazing!" Maria exclaimed, looking at the sky above which was filled with stars, and an aurora borealis which danced and dwindled. This world they were in was definitely a wintry one, but strangely, the snow felt soft, and the air was warm.

"I'm glad you think so. This place is my lair."

"Your lair?" When Maria thought of lairs, she thought of dark spooky basements where evil scientists run their experiments, not a beautiful snowy landscape.

"Yes, my lair. It is my safe place where I can hide and recover if I'm ever hurt," they explained.

"I see. But why do you call it a lair? Lairs aren't exactly therapeutic, in my knowledge."'

"It's just what they're called. I have no explanation for it. All I know is that it's a lair."

Maria began walking through the snow, leaving a trail of footsteps behind her. Twylight began gliding behind her, but soon began leading her. As they continued to travel, a structure of some sort began coming into view. As they continued, the structure began creeping forward faster than it seemed they were travelling, becoming more defined as they approached. Only after what seemed like a few seconds, the structure that Maria had now defined to be a cathedral was right at their feet.

"Should we go in?" Maria asked, not knowing if she would be too invasive.

"Of course. I don't even know what's inside," Twylight answered, opening the large wooden doors.

Behind the doors was a stunning room made of that same white, glittering stone as it seemed all of this world was made of. There wasn't any furniture in this place, but pillars held up the high ceiling with blank stained glass windows.

"Don't worry, this place will be a lot more interesting once I actually do things in this world," Twylight stated.

"So, this building will change with your experience?" the teenager inquired.

"Yup. I haven't really done much yet, but hey, we can explore this world together, if you're up for it," Twylight suggested.

"Sure," Maria answered. There was no reason for her to refuse.

"So, what do you want to do next?" Twylight asked.

"I guess you can make another portal, and we can go explore some other place in this world."

Twylight nodded, poking the air once again, and creating another portal. This time, Twylight flew through first, Maria following. The next place they appeared in was a rainforest that was bursting with energy. The trees were filled with vines, and it looked like there was plenty to explore.

Maria began jog forward but Twylight stopped her and shushed.

"What is it?" Maria asked.

"I hear something," Twylight whispered.

"Well, duh, there's plenty of bird noises and animal sounds. It's a rainforest."

"No, it's not that. Keep quiet," the nightmaren repeated.

Within all of the loud chirps of birds and buzzes of bugs, there was a voice.

" _Where is the pesky Visitor? They must be around somewhere,"_ the voice growled.

Maria looked back at Twylight, and whispered, "I want to see who's there."

"Me too," the curious dream creature agreed.

The two quietly crept around the corner, and saw a black and red jester slowly searching up and down the trees.

"Is that another nightmaren?" Maria whispered softly.

Twylight nodded.

The other nightmaren seemed to have heard Maria, and turned around. "Who's there!" he called in her direction. He began flying over, but Maria and Twylight ducked into a hole in a nearby hollow tree. "Where are you little Visitor?" the jester called in sinister, sing-songy voice. "I know you're around here." The nightmaren was nearing the tree the two were in, so Twylight picked Maria off the ground and flew higher within the tree. The nightmaren peeked his head into the tree, but gladly didn't look around for long.

As they waited for the nightmaren to leave, another voice came in.

"Reala!" the new voice called.

"NiGHTS, it's so good to see you. Would you mind letting your little Visitor friend know that this little game of Hide and Seek is over?" the first jester chuckled.

"Reala, what are you doing here?" the new voice asked angrily.

"Oh, I'm just searching for this new Visitor. I can sense they are oh so rich with ideya."

"You are not going to get near them," he hissed.

There was a pause before the first nightmaren contered. "Oh. You haven't met our new guest either." He chuckled. "Well, Wizeman will be so glad when I return to Nightmare with an armload of ideya."

"What, Wizeman has returned?!" NiGHTS exclaimed.

"He has. And he has greater plans than ever before. Just you wait NiGHTS," Reala cackled.

After that, the two other nightmarens left went their separate ways.

"That was interesting," Maria stated.

"I agree," Twylight responded.

"Do you know those nightmarens?" the girl asked.

"No. I don't really know any nightmarens."

Once Maria was back on the ground, the two exited the tree, and sat down in the grass.

"I still don't exactly get it, Twylight. You are from this place, but only have selective knowledge of it?"

"It's really hard to explain, and I honestly can't explain it."

"Then tell me, who can explain?"

Twylight thought for a moment, but the realization hit her. "We have to find one of my counterparts."

"Isn't that dangerous or something?"

"No. It's only dangerous if all three of us are together, but we are going to just find one of them," the purple and blue nightmaren answered.

Behind Maria, a little white ghost-like creature appeared, and slowly clung to Maria's back. Maria continued talking with Twylight, but slowly, everything seemed to fade away.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3:**

Maria opened her eyes to the sunlight warming up her face. She sat in her bed for a short moment, but slowly got up after the heat of the blankets became too much for her. The girl slid off her bed and arched her back and raised her arms up in stretch. " _Wow that was really good sleep!"_ she thought, exhaling an airy yawn. She then went to check her computer once more, but didn't find any new notifications, so she decided to go downstairs and get some breakfast.

As she was about to leave her room, her phone buzzed. The teen walked back into the room, picked it up and checked it:

 **Abby S.: Morning Maria! Hope Im not waking u up but knowing u u probably have been up since 6 am even on the 1st Saturday of break. Want 2 go sledding today? I asked all of the others and Jamie and Raya are up for it. Just waiting on u Taylor and Fiona. Jake is bringing his friends too so Will will be there. I hope he doesnt bother us. Hes too much of a flirt and I swear he has no respect!**

Maria then quickly check her schedule on her phone, and replied:

 **Maria: Yeah I'll go! I surprisingly don't have anything scheduled today. When and where will we be meeting up?"**

The teen sent her message and walked back out her door. She walked down the steps, into the kitchen, and over to the pantry where she got out a box of cereal. After getting the milk, her phone buzzed again. As she poured the milk and sat down, she read the message:

 **Abby S.: Cool! Ur finally able 2 have real fun and not just be in writing class after writing class and lesson after lesson**

As Maria began eating, she slowly responded:

 **Maria: Hey! My classes are fun too! I just don't often go to parties and all of that stuff you do. What about the time and place?**

 **Abby S.: 11 gibbous hill park**

 **Maria: Thanks!**

After the girl finished eating, she put her bowl in the sink and and filled the bowl with water. She looked over at the clock and noticed it read 9:56. " _Wow, I woke up late!"_ she exclaimed internally.

Maria immediately ran back upstairs, and back into her room. She opened her closet, and searched for a warm sweater and leggings successfully finding a red sweater with diagonal white stripes that could be interpreted as a candy cane pattern. She also found a particularly warm pair of leggings which would easily fit under snow pants.

At this point, she had about half an hour 'til she needed to head out, so she rushed into the bathroom, put on deodorant, brushed her teeth and so on, though decided to wait for a shower 'til after sledding since she'll be all sweaty and a mess. She then once again ran back down the stairs, grabbed her snow gear, and headed into the garage to search for her sleds which she hasn't used in years. The last place she saw the sleds were somewhere in the garage, so she quickly jogged around the edges of the garage where she saw plenty of ancient flower pots and junk which still needs to be organized and thrown out.

After about ten minutes of searching she managed to find a small circular sled, a long plastic sled, and a toboggan. " _How am I going to bring this toboggan with me?"_ Maria worried. She tried picking the sled up, which she was able to do, but realized it wouldn't be convenient carrying it to the park which wasn't that far away, but trying carry two other sleds as well would surely be a workout. The teen decided she'll just bring the the plastic sleds since that would be easiest. She opened the garage and began dragging the sleds down her driveway, taking a right onto the sidewalk.

About one mile later, Maria trudged through the snow-covered field of Gibbous Hill Park. She walked past the frozen swings and playground before reaching the bottom of the hill. Peeking over the top of the hill was Abby, Jake, Will, and all of the others. They were waving and seemed to be calling her but she couldn't quite hear them. She then began trudging up the hill on a well trodden path that was packed flat from all of the other sledders who climbed up the hill previously. As she climbed up the hill a little further, she could hear Will yelling, "Hurry up you slowpoke!"

She grinned and teased in response, "We'll see who the slowpoke is when I race you down the hill!" Maria began trudging up the hill faster, and after finally reaching the top of the hill, she set the sleds down, and paused to pant for a bit.

"Did you walk all the way here?!" Fiona gasped in awe; Fiona is a dark-skinned girl with caramel eyes, and naturally blonde hair. She moved to Bellbridge just before school started, but from what Maria's heard, she is quite the botanist when Spring comes. Her shy, curious nature is most prominent, given her silent fascination in anything nature related.

"Of course she did! She walks everywhere!" Jamie exclaimed; Jamie is a dark-skinned kid with black hair, and green eyes. Who knows how many sports she plays, but whenever there is a chance for competition, she takes it.

"That's very true," Raya confirmed. Raya is Maria's childhood best friend. She has pale skin, vibrant red hair, and foggy lilac eyes. Her biggest hobby is painting.

"Where's Taylor?" Maria asked.

"Taylor didn't respond," Abby answered. Abby is quite the actress and singer. She has blue hair and eyes, and is Jake's cheerful older sister.

"Come on, ladies. Let's quit the chit-chat. Will and I against Maria and Abby," Jake grinned slyly picking up one of Maria's sleds and a similar sled.

"Don't forget me!" Jamie exclaimed, grabbing two-person sleds and placing them in front of pairs.

"Me and Raya, Fiona and Andrew, and Tom and Jack!"

"Sure," Will laughed.

The teens all set themselves up with the heavier person in the front and the lighter in the back. They all positioned their sleds just right in hopes not to run into each other, and then as they off they zoomed down the hill. Tom and Jack took a lead after pushing off early as Fiona and Andrew struggled to get the sled moving. Will and Jake just began to surpass Maria and Abby, but Tom and Jack began taking an uncontrolled turn and crashed into the other boys. Jamie and Raya came up from behind Maria and Abby and zoomed by the two at almost double their speed. As all of the teens reached the bottom, Jamie and Raya came in 1st, Maria and Abby 2nd, Tom and Jack 3rd, Will and Jake 4th, and Fiona and Andrew last.

"Ha! I beat all of you!" Jamie jeered playfully.

"Yeah, but the older sister's beat the younger brothers, and that's what matters!" Abby teased, making a snowball, and throwing it at Jake and missing.

"Oh, you now want a fight, Abby!" Jake smirked maybe a bit too viciously, making a more compact snowball and chucking it square in her face.

"Ow!" she winced, falling backwards into the snow. "That actually hurt!"

Jake showed no sign of apology, but Maria and Will gave him a look of disappointment. He used to be intensely bullied over in America, and so whenever he gets a hint of someone making a slight insult, he retaliates violently. "Sorry, Abby," he sighed guiltily, walking over to her, and helped her up.

After wiping the snow from her glasses, Abby stated, "I don't know how you two can get along with each other so well. This happens almost everyday at my house."

The Taylors shrugged in response, and Raya interrupted the four, offering, "Maybe we should all just take a break and go to Full Moon Cafe for some coffee and hot chocolate."

The Wakefields agreed as well as the Taylors and the five other friends. Will, Abby, Fiona, Jack, and Raya dragged their sleds over to Abby's mini van, as the other half of the pairs climbed back up the hill to retrieve the rest of the sleds.

After packing all of the sleds back into Abby's car, Tom, Jack, Andrew, and Fiona were picked up by their parents leaving the two boys and four girls together, walking down to the cafe. A couple blocks later, the kids arrived at the cafe, stomping the excess snow off their boots. As they entered the restaurant, they were overcome with the aroma of coffee and cookies.

" _Wow, I don't know why I don't come here often,"_ Maria thought with a smile.

At the counter, a pink-haired girl scurried around trying to give her customers their orders, but when Raya entered, she exclaimed, "Raya, I need some help here! Lila and Reneé are supposed to be here, but they are apparently travelling for the holiday and left me here to do everything! There's an extra uniform in the back!"

"Of course, Claris," Raya agreed, dashing to the back room, looking back at Maria apologetically.

The rest of the group lined up behind all of the other customers, and gazed up at the menu. Their day menu was gladly in English, unlike their menus in the evening which were proudly in French. As Raya dashed back out in a work uniform, the rest of the party lined up to order.

"I'd like a medium hot cocoa," Maria told Claris.

"And same for me," Will added.

"Are you paying separately or together?" the woman asked.

"Together," Will replied.

"I'll have a caramel chai tea latte," Abby ordered.

"And I'll have a medium roasted coffee," Jake added.

"Together as well?" Claris asked, and they nodded in response.

After everyone, excluding Raya, ordered and paid, they took a seat at a long booth. As they sat down, Jake started talking about hockey and other winter sports with Will and Jamie, so Maria and Abby began talking about music, until they received texts from their parents asking each of them to return home for dinner.

Maria and Will were picked up by their dad as he came back from work. Before they left, they all agreed to have pizza for dinner, so they picked up pizza from a local pizzeria, and then they drove home.

"So, how was sledding?" Mr. Taylor asked.

"It was good," Maria replied. "But Abby and Jake bickered again," she sighed.

"Well, that's a shame," her father sighed in return.

"Yeah," Will sighed as well.

They finally returned home, and enjoyed their cheese pizza before doing their own things. Mr. Taylor cleaned up dinner as Maria went up to her room to nap.

" _Well, today felt really long,"_ thought to herself before dozing off.

Slowly, the familiar setting of the plaza returned, still blindingly bright, and still full of energy. As her eyes got used the white marble buildings and white cobblestone with specks of other bright crystals, she noticed a figure gliding slowly through the plaza near the end where something seemed to have been broken off.

Maria cautiously began approaching the figure, noticing it looked a lot like the red and black nightmaren she saw yesterday, but it was more feminine, its horns were striped with bright and light purples. As she got closer, the nightmaren perk up, seeming to notice her, so she froze. They then suddenly turned around paused in what looked like awe, and then sped straight at her, causing her to fall backwards as it stopped right in front of her feet.

"Oh, sorry! I get quite excited when I see new Visitors!" the nightmaren playful cringed, holding a hand out to the dreamer. Maria took the creature's hand, and got up.

"My name's NiGHTS. What's yours?" the purple jester greeted abruptly.

"I'm Maria. It's nice to meet you too NiGHTS," Maria replied back. " _This is the nightmaren that the black and red nightmaren argued with yesterday,"_ the girl thought to herself.

"So, is this your first time adventuring in the World of Dreams?" NiGHTS grinned in anticipation.

"No, I have adventured here twice before, and I looked around that castle," the teen explained, pointed the castle down the plaza.

The dream creature's expression drooped into a more serious expression as it stared off in an intent gaze.

"NiGHTS?" Maria furrowed her brow, lightly tapping the top of his hand, which startled the nightmaren.

"Oh, sorry again," NiGHTS cringed apologetically. "Just be careful in there. It can be quite dangerous, and who knows what lurks in there now."

"What do you mean by now?" Maria questioned the dream creature's vagueness.

"Oh, don't listen to me!" the jester shook the serious mood away, bringing back a peppy mood with a smirk.

"So Maria, would you like me to show you to Nightopia?" NiGHTS smirked playfully

"Nightopia?" the writer inquired. " _Finally. Someone who could explain to her what exactly this place is."_

"A paradise-like world which is unique to you. Just grab my hand, and I'll fly us over to the Dream Gate!" he cheered.

"Okay?..." Maria replied nervously. As she went to grab NiGHTS' hand, a bright flash of white light enveloped her, and the next thing she saw was her feet, wait, no, NiGHTS' feet hovering above the cobblestone. "What?!" the girl exclaimed confusedly, looking at NiGHTS' hands in front of her.

"Don't worry Maria. This is called dualizing. Both of us can control my body right now, so I can fly us over to the Dream Gate where we can explore your Nightopia," the nightmaren reassured.

"Okay," the dreamer cringed in anxious agreement.

NiGHTS began dashing over the edge of the plaza, heading into what seemed like the middle of nowhere. But only a few moments passed before Maria was able to see another floating island that was plaza-like, decorated with rocks and tree. NiGHTS finally skidded to a stop in the air right over a colorful cobblestone cul de sac, and Maria plummet a few feet down onto the ground, landing on all fours.

"So, this is Nightopia?" the dreamer raised her eyebrow unimpressed.

"No, of course not!" NiGHTS laughed. "It's through this door." The nightmaren waved his arms at an empty door frame, and the writer was even more unimpressed.

"There's no door there," the teen stated, looking between the doorframe and NiGHTS.

"Not yet. Just walk over here," NiGHTS instructed.

Maria slowly walked over to the doorless frame, and with a burst of colorful light, a door appear with a stained glass picture of a rainforest. She stepped up onto the platform, and slowly opened the door. Behind the door was a rainforest just like the one she and Twylight had been in last night, in fact, it was the same forest that she and Twylight had been in last night. Maria looked back at NiGHTS with a less "unimpressed" look, but still didn't look impressed.

"Come on. Doesn't this place look like so much fun?" The nightmaren twirled in the air, and looked back at Maria who was still not gasping in amazement.

"Well, I tried," NiGHTS mumbled, hovering back to the ground.

This was a different area of the forest, so it still had Maria's attention. Maria was quietly entertained as she observed her surroundings, but was stopped as she heard the sound of children singing.

"NiGHTS, what's that noise," the girl asked.

NiGHTS was already ahead of her, and had flown around the corner. The dreamer jogged through the ferns and around the corner to see NiGHTS flying over to a group of little baby-like fairies who were singing. Maria then walked over to the group hoping that she wouldn't frighten them.

"They're called Nightopians," NiGHTS explained as Maria approached. "They reside here in Nightopia."

One Nightopian flew slowly over Maria's leg and gave a hug, looking back up at Maria with a smile.

"Aw, it seem that one likes you!" NiGHTS smiled and the Nightopian's sweet gesture. "These Nightopians are lucky. They can live here freely with no job they need to fulfill or master they need to obey. They just need the presence of an ideya, and they have that."

Maria looked back up at NiGHTS who had a big happy smile on his face, looking down at the Nightopians.

"What's an ideya?" Maria asked, hoping she didn't ruin the moment. She remembers hearing both Twylight and that red and black nightmaren saying something about stealing them.

"An ideya is mystical energy that brings about the presence of Nightopia. They are elements of the human spirit which foster these dream worlds here in the Night Dimension that Nightopians and dreamers can thrive in together."

"And what about nightmarens?" NiGHTS froze, and Maria instantly felt regret for that question. "I'm sorry. I didn't know I shouldn't ask."

"No, it's not that. I just didn't expect that you knew about nightmarens," NiGHTS replied awkwardly. "Nightmarens are dark creatures that feed off of fear. Their main goal is to steal ideya from dreamers and use them to help their master whose plan is to destroy Nightopia and all other worlds."

Maria pondered for a moment before asking another question. "Then why aren't you trying to steal my ideya?"

NiGHTS was paralyzed once again, but more seriously. "Why am I not…"

"Why aren't you trying to steal my ideya? You are a nightmaren, aren't you?"

Before Maria or NiGHTS could continue, the Nightopians made a short scream before slowly flying away.

"Reala, showing your face here again, are you?!" NiGHTS glared at the other nightmaren.

"Of course! You know I can't ignore crashing a party," the red and black nightmaren chuckled dark. "I'm just here to quickly retrieve this Visitor's ideya, and then I'm off."

"I won't allow you!" NiGHTS yelled, but as the purple jester began to charge at the red jester, two birds swooped in from above, and dragged NiGHTS away.

"NiGHTS!" the teenager called desperately.

"Well Visitor, I guess I can now formally introduce myself. My name is Reala," the nightmaren bowed. "And if you come here, I'll just quickly-"

"No Maria! Don't let him touch you!" NiGHTS screamed from a distance.

The writer began slowly backing away from the malevolent creature. She then turned around and began to sprint, jumping over Nightopians and bushes, Reala trailing closely behind her.

" _How can I get him off my tail?"_ Maria thought to herself. She looked around, and spotted exactly what she needed: a vine. As she neared another corner, she jumped and grabbed a vine from a nearby tree, swinging around corner out of Reala's sight. Before Reala could find her, she had quietly snuck out behind him, and ran in the opposite direction. Gladly, Reala hadn't noticed her little trick, and kept searching the area where she disappeared.

Maria had found her way back to where she last saw NiGHTS, but was shocked to see the purple jester locked up in a golden cage surrounded by a magical field. Maria sprinted over to the cage, and looked up at NiGHTS.

"Maria, are you okay?" NiGHTS gasped, seeing the visitor stop to pant a little.

"Yeah, I'm fine, but what about you? How did you get locked up in this cage?"

"These stupid old goodles got me again. If I don't get out of here soon, I may be taken back to Wizeman."

"What can I do, if there is anything I can do?"

"First, you have to climb this chain, and get up here. I'll explain the rest later."

"Alright." Maria grabbed hold of the chain, and began climbing. I wasn't too hard climb, but it was definitely tedious.

After Maria had climbed into the cell itself, NiGHTS began to explain all of the steps they must take.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

After having escaped all three cages, NiGHTS undualized with Maria.

"Thanks for helping me escape," the jester said to the dreamer.

"No problem," the girl replied.

Maria was going to ask NiGHTS about nightmarens once again, but Maria was soon awake.

Maria had awoken to her alarm, though it was a Sunday. She groggily hit the snooze button on her alarm, and turned it off to avoid further annoyance. She laid there in bed thinking about last night's events, wondering what all of the drama behind "being a nightmaren" was about. As she contemplated the events of the night before, she closed her eyes hoping to go back to the Night Dimension, but instead, she slept a few hours more, dreamlessly.

After waking up again, the blogger opened her laptop which was on her nightstand, and quickly checked her blog for any notifications before she got up. After that, she got up and went down to get breakfast. As she reached the kitchen, she found her brother sitting at the table on his phone.

"Good morning, Will," she greeted him as she passed him to get to the pantry to get cereal.

"'Morning, Maria," Will replied, turning his head a little in her direction, but keeping his eyes glued to his phone screen.

"You're a groggy one, aren't you," she chuckled, as she set a bowl and cereal on the table across from Will.

"Um, I didn't sleep well," he muttered.

"That's a shame. At least it's break, and you can sleep in as much as you want."

Will continued to stare at his phone as Maria finished up her breakfast.

"What do you want to do today?" she asked.

"Nothing. I need a day off from drama," he answered.

"I can't disagree with that." Maria then carried her bowl over to the sink, and went upstairs.

Maria looked out the window of her bedroom, and decided that today would clearly be a 'stay in your bedroom and only leave for food and the bathroom'-day. So, she grabbed her laptop which was fully charged, and began to write whatever came to her mind in an empty Word document.

After awhile, she became bored, and began to play mindless games to entertain herself, but as she was laying in her bed, she drifted off for a nap. As she slept, she appeared in the plaza of Nightopia like usual, but this time, Twylight was waiting for her looking quite distressed.

"Maria, you need to come with me." Twylight transformed into a human, and grabbed Maria's wrist, dragging her to the castle.

As Maria followed Twylight, she whispered, "What's wrong? Is something bad about to happen?"

Twylight stopped and turned back to her. "Maybe, maybe not, but this is serious. I found one of my counterparts, Nightmayr, but he is currently in quite the situation upstairs."

Maria listened upstairs, but her human ears couldn't tune in.

"Follow me."

Maria followed Twylight up the skinny, old spiral staircase. On the balcony, Twylight pulled her to the corner next the the center hallway. Maria was beginning to finally hear the commotion of what was going on.

"Calm down, NiGHTS!" a familiar voice pleaded, "We didn't touch anything, see? What I want to know is why this orb is here in the first place. Why would you lock it up? Someone is trapped in it!"

Maria looked over at Twylight and mouthed, "Is Nightmayr in the orb." Twylight nodded.

"...Inside it? Impossible! If something was trapped in there I would've been able to tell. Besides, what's in it? A visitor? A nightmaren? An _octopaw_?" Maria quickly identified the angry voice as NiGHTS. "It doesn't matter. I'm taking it and finding a better place to keep it. You two have no idea what it is, and you shouldn't be up here anyway."

The dialogue stopped for a moment, giving Twylight some time to give a short explanation. "Nightmayr is…"

The indigo nightmaren's story was cut off by a young feminine voice saying: "I don't think you know what it is either, NiGHTS. We're your friends, can't you trust us? _We_ trust _you_!"

"Helen, give it to me," NiGHTS commanded.

"Will catch!" the feminine voice called.

As the room down the hall became more chaotic, Maria whispered to Twylight, "Should we get involved?"

"No. Nightmayr has this under control. We had planned that we'd find a dreamer or two, bring them to this castle, and through a little bit of deception get them to free him."

"But did you expect NiGHTS to get into this?" Maria asked doubtfully.

"Uh, no, but you shouldn't worry. Nightmayr is tough enough to get through it."

The two peered down the hall. But all they could see was a dark mist.

As they continued watching, a shadowy figure emerged from the mist and approached Twylight and Maria.

"Hello, Twylight," the shadow spoke. The shadow then formed into a nightmaren with a very similar appearance to Twylight, except that this one looked much darker, not in color, but in demeanor.

"Hello Nightmayr," Twylight greeted with a small smile.

Maria felt uneasy being around this nightmaren. Of course, she was not trying to judge this nightmaren just by his appearance, but it was a certain aura that he gave off.

"Thank you for helping me escape. I'm in your debt." Nightmayr slowly bowed, hiding his expression from the two others.

"You're welcome," Twylight replied. Maria looked up at Twylight, and it seemed clear that Twylight was feeling this dark aura as well.

"Who knows. Maybe I'll be able to pay you back sometime in the future," Nightmayr chuckled hauntingly.

"Maybe, but if we are to leave here unnoticed, we better leave now," Twylight spoke. The mystical nightmaren created a portal and beckoned the two others through.

"Don't worry. I'll take my own leave," Nightmayr refused. The dark nightmaren turned into a shadow, and slithered away out the exit.

Maria looked back to Twylight, and followed them through the portal. Upon exiting the portal, the two had entered Twylight's cathedral which had changed. Instead of just a stark white room, accents of silver, purple, and blue began to appear. The most prominent change though, was the a new piece of stained glass. The picture portrayed Twylight holding a orb which contained an image of Nightmayr. Beside them were two dreamers. One was a blonde-haired girl with a cute pink jacket, and the other one, when she looked at it looked extremely like her brother. " _That can't actually be Will, can it?"_ Maria asked herself, but she decided to shrug it off.

"So, Twylight, what exactly happened back there?" Maria asked.

After Maria had faded away, Twylight was all alone in the rainforest. Assuming that there may be more nightmarens like the one that tried to hunt down Maria, Twylight decided to take their leave and go back to the Dream Plaza to wander about. The indigo nightmaren poked the air, and their blackhole-like portal grew in an instant. They flew through it, feeling the warm churning energy, and quickly found themself outside the castle.

While Maria was gone the first time, Twylight took their time to look through the plaza. They had looked through a few buildings including a cathedral which they liked quite a lot. But now, they were in front of the castle which they chose to explore next.

As Twylight began approaching the building, they felt a mysterious aura radiating off it, like something pulling them inside. They followed the aura inside the doors, and looked up to the balcony where it felt stronger. As they flew up to the higher level, they saw a hallway with two black double doors, where they just knew that the aura was coming from. They glided over the railing towards the doors, feeling the energy grow and grow. As they were opening the doors, they were expecting something big and magical, but as the doors opened, they vision came upon a box. A box trapped within a glass casing. Thinking nothing of it, they were about to fly away when they heard a voice cry, " _No!"_

Turning back, Twylight looked straight at the box. "Is someone there?" They looked at the box, before hearing the voice reply, " _Yes!"_

"Where are you?" they called.

" _I'm trapped inside of this box. I've been trapped for as long as I've known."_

Twylight felt a deep yearning when they heard those words. They completely described the feeling they had until Maria finally awoke them.

"What can I do to help you?" they asked, approaching the box and bending down like they were going to hear the voice better.

" _I need a dreamer to awaken me. I once nearly escaped a year or so ago, but some nightmaren interfered, and I got locked away in this place."_

"May I ask, what's your name?" Twylight began, sitting back in the air.

" _Nightmayr."_

The name gave Twylight chills. It seemed to resonate within them, like they knew who this creature was. They instantly began wondering why they felt that way until they were reminded by a voice in the back of their head: " _He's one of my counterparts."_

Twylight was taken out of their trance when Nightmayr replied, " _And what is your name? I didn't seem to catch it."_

"Twylight," they replied. "I'm one of your counterparts."

" _Well aren't I lucky. Now where's that poor human who awoke you?"_

"She's not here right now," Twylight stated.

" _Then find dreamers to awaken me."_

"And how should I do that?" she questioned doubtfully.

" _I don't know where you can find a human, but when you do bring them, I will be all set from there. I can lure them up here to me, have them release me, and then I'm free."_

"Okay. I'll do my best," Twylight finished before getting up, and teleporting themself to a random Nightopia.

Twylight appeared in a bright Nightopia with lights shining around everywhere. There were tons of tall building all around glittering with neon lights. They glided around in amazement, looking at all of the glittering yellow, orange, and red. Trying not to be distracted by the wonder Nightopia, Twylight dived down into the alleyway, in search of the Nightopia's owner. It took only a minute or two, until they heard footsteps echoing. The nightmaren quickly hid themself around a corner, and transformed into a dreamer. With a deep breath, they walked straight down the alley, intervening with the other visitor.

"Oh, sorry. Is this your Nightopia?" Twylight cringed shyly.

The visitor looked rather surprised, "Uh… yeah. Are you another visitor?"

"Yes," they quickly responded, "I am not a nightmaren."

"Didn't think you were," the boy laughed. "You seem a bit lost. I can show you the way out of here if you'd like."

The nightmaren took this opportunity to follow along. "Uh, yeah. I just kinda appeared here, and I don't know how to get back to my Nightopia."

"Don't worry," he smiled kindly. "Follow me."

Twylight smiled and followed the boy back in the direction he came from. It wasn't long before they reached the door, and Twylight still had no idea what to do.

"There's the door out of here," the boy pointed and turned around to face her.

Twylight panicked, they still had to send him to Nightmayr. Quickly, they poked the air and formed a portal behind him while he was facing them. "Sorry!" they yelled, pushing him into it before he had time to react.

After that, Twylight quickly closed the portal behind him, and made a portal for themself. Jumping through it, hoping that they don't end up in the same place as that boy. Gladly, after they jumped through, they were back in the room with Nightmayr's orb, with that boy not in sight yet.

"I'm back, and I brought a dreamer with me," they spoke to the orb.

" _I saw,"_ his voice muttered. " _But it won't do."_

"What? What does that mean?" they asked.

" _I need the girl…"_

"The girl?" Twylight was quite confused. Why does Nightmayr need two dreamers to awaken him? What if the next dreamer won't be good enough as well? Their mind kept ruminating, but they were snapped out of it from Nightmayr growling, " _Go!"_

"Uh okay!" the bubbly nightmaren exclaimed in surprise.

The indigo nightmaren scurried out of the room, and transported themself to another Nightopia.

This time, they appeared in a very green Nightopia full of trees, a little like Maria's but this one was less tropical. It didn't take long for her to find another human, and this time, it was a girl with a blonde ponytail.

"Excuse me?" the girl asked, catching Twylight's attention.

"Oh, hello! I wasn't sure if I'd see another visitor here!" they replied, turning around.

"I could… say the same thing in all honesty," the girl replied. "You look lost… how did you get here exactly?"

How were they supposed to answer that? " _Oh yeah! I just used my teleportation powers to come here, and lure you out of your Nightopia."_ "I'm not sure," they quickly replied, nervously combing through their long hair.

"Well, I guess that doesn't really matter… things can be quite weird here." The girl was smiling, which helped calm Twylight down. "Why don't I help you back to the Dream Gate? It's not the first time I've had to do it before."

"You're a very nice girl, thank you," the disguised nightmaren smiled.

The dreamer led Twylight through the dark and thick woods. Within the thick moss were little yellow windows, like this was a whole city, but covered in trees and moss. The sound of whistling and singing seemed to echo through the Nightopia, all mixed in harmony.

Soon, they approached a large merry-go-round, where the door was in view. Instead of immediately creating the portal, Twylight watched the merry-go-round as it spun around, brightening up the dark forest with its warm, flashy colors.

The girl then led her over to the door, "Nightopia can be a confusing place, but try not to get lost again," she chuckled.

This was Twylight's chance. The girl's back was turned, so Twylight darted into the air above her. The girl turned around, momentarily paused in confusion. The nightmaren then created a portal, which the dreamer simply observed. Within a second's notice, the dream creature kicked the girl forward, sending her tumbling through the portal.

After that portal closed, Twylight created another portal for themself, hoping that this will work. That's when they bumped into Maria…

"Well, that's quite a story. Also, I have a question. Why haven't I ever seen any other humans in Nightopia until now?" the dreamer asked.

Twylight shrugged. "I don't know. I'm just as new to Nightopia as you are."


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5:**

In the morning, Maria woke up. It was Christmas Eve. To her, Christmas Eve was never really significant, other than finishing up wrapping gifts, and dreaming about what the day after would be like. Honestly, she didn't really understand why it was such a big deal. It's just a day before a holiday. She also questioned why New Years Day was a holiday. It's not that she didn't enjoy the day off, but all of the fun happened on New Years Eve- hoping and dreaming about the year to come. After that though, the year becomes just as mundane as any year.

Maria got out of bed, and walked over to her computer to check out her social media accounts. Of course, none of her friends were on, so she simply checked what stuff they posted from the night before.

Jamie: posted some commentary about some sports game

Abby: reblogged some pics of her favorite actors and singers

Raya: posted a picture of her makeup from that day (it's always really fancy and cool)

Tyler: reblogged pictures that fit his steampunk/clockwork aesthetic

Fiona: Nothing

Other internet friends+Will: memes and stuff...

After that Maria checked up on some of her favorite tv shows to see when their specials would air. Nothing was too interesting after that, so she decided to go downstairs, make breakfast, and then maybe binge watch whatever Christmas specials were on. As she walked into the kitchen, she saw her brother with his chin on the table next to his cereal bowl, eyes glazed as he stared at his phone.

"Will, what's wrong?" she asked, but her words seemed to startle him, making him respond, "Don't do that Maria!"

"I didn't mean to startle you!" Maria exclaimed.

Will cringed at her loud voice covered his ears. "Maria!"

"I'm sorry Will. I didn't mean to be loud," the sister replied. "Is there something wrong?"

That seemed to hit a bad chord with her brother since he bared his teeth, and yelled. "Stop trying to give me therapy! What's my business, is my business; not yours, so shut up and go away!"

Something wasn't right with her brother. This wasn't his typical annoyance. He was outright furious for some reason, and Maria didn't know why. She wanted to asked him kindly about what happened, so she could help him, but he was not in a state that he'd listen or find her presence calming. It took effort, but she was able to take a few deep breaths and turn her attention to breakfast. This morning, she felt like eating less, so she wouldn't gain too much weight the next day. She went to the pantry, and grabbed some oatmeal, pouring into a bowl, adding water, and then microwaving it. As she set her oatmeal down on the table, Will glared up at her, immediately getting up and storming upstairs to his room where she heard a loud slam. She sighed, wishing that her brother wouldn't be so cold, but there was nothing she could do.

After Maria finished her food, she walked upstairs, grabbed her laptop and her phone, and walked back downstairs to the living room. There, she plopped herself down on the couch, turned on the TV to the closest channel that she knew was airing Christmas movies all day, and opened her laptop to some of her stories, and began slowly typing.

 _Back in the Dark Realm:_

" _Master Wizeman. I'm here."_

 _Wizeman looked down at the red and black ram horn nightmaren in front of him._

" _So another piece of Fryght has awoken. What do you call yourself?" the god asked._

" _I am Nightmayr, and I'm am your faithful servant." Nightmayr bowed in the air in front of his creator, though hiding the very dark look on his face._

" _I had a feeling that another piece awoke. I'm glad that this time you chose to be loyal to your creator."_

" _Of course," Nightmayr replied, looking up at the two large eyes that meticulously judged him._

" _Now tell me, which powers did you inherit?"_

 _Nightmayr then changed his glance from the closest eyes to the further eyes, and gave them a dark smirk. "Strength and shadows…" Nightmayr surrounded himself in shadows that quickly hid his body, though his bright red-eyes showed right through._

" _Good…" Wizeman muttered._

Back in the Waking World, Maria had dozed off for a second, but awoke with no recollection of what she dreamt. She was about to go back to watching TV, but she was interrupted by her dad entering the house.

"Hi dad," Maria waved over at her dad who was carrying extra bags full of food for tomorrow, and also an extra roll of wrapping paper.

"Good morning Maria. Happy Christmas Eve."

"Happy Christmas Eve," Maria replied.

"Did you see Will yet today?" Mr. Taylor was putting the food down and sorting it into the refrigerator and pantry.

"Yeah, but he's not in a good mood, so I recommend you be careful."

"Is it just normal teenage moodiness, or is like how it was two years ago?" Will had began keeping his distance from his family starting in 6th year, which Maria had assumed was due to Will naturally turning to his friends for support since dad was usually busy at work, and also the fact that he had put so much pressure on himself to be liked by his classmates.

"I don't know yet, but it seems either that level, or worse," Maria answered.

Her father sighed. "Oh well. I won't pressure him too much then. I just hope he will feel better for tomorrow."

"Me too," Maria sighed.

Right after that, the writer decided to finish wrapping her gifts. She works at the local library, so she was able to buy the gifts herself. For Will, she got a new gaming system, which was a lot of money, but her dad wasn't willing to get it, so she decided to save up. Hopefully he would really like it, and it would be enough to get him out of this slump. For her dad, she got a book, and a few other gadgets he asked for. Christmases have always been small ever since her mom's passing.

"Maria!" her dad called. "Could you help me prepare the food for tomorrow?"

"Coming!" she called.

The only big celebration she has on Christmas is Christmas dinner. She, her brother, and her father go over to her grandparents' house. It's always been a little awkward, since these are her mom's parents, but they are always super sweet, and welcoming. Her aunt and her daughter also come, and after dinner, they open more presents.

When Maria got to the kitchen, she quickly turned on the oven in order to preheat it. First, she worked on the Christmas cookies, which was a family recipe. Her mother made these cookies each year, so when she passed away, she and her father continued the tradition.

Once Maria had pulled the cookies out of the oven, the sweet smell wafted throughout the house. Only 5 minutes later, Will came wandering downstairs.

"Coming to help?" Maria inquired, knowing fully well that Will only came down to sneak a cookie or two and return to his room. Will gave Maria a glare, huffed before leaving wordlessly and cookielessly.

"It would have been nice if Will stayed," her father sighed. "I could really have used some help with this fondue."

Maria sighed back. "It's just sad to see him isolating so much. I wish he would try to be part of the family." After both releasing a final sigh, the two continued their work, mostly without conversation.

After the cooking, baking, and cleaning was done, Maria's father took out some leftovers, and asked Maria to call her brother down for dinner. Will came down, just as moody as earlier, and they all finished off their day.

That evening, Maria went back to sleep, only slightly excited for the holiday, but mostly excited to see more of Nightopia. As she drifted to sleep, she found herself back in the Dream Plaza.

"Twylight?" Maria called out, hoping that her friend was nearby, but it seemed her friend must be occupied somewhere else. But, as Maria was about to wander around the Dream Plaza more, she was startled by a voice behind her saying, "Hmm… I haven't seen a Visitor around these part in years." Maria spun around to face a nightmaren with yellow horns with zig-zagging black stripes, and a pair of aquamarine goggles over its eyes.

"Uh, who are you?" Maria asked, only feeling slightly nervous in this encounter.

"I'm Jolten. But what really matters is who the heck are you? This place is kinda my territory."

"I'm Maria. It's nice to meet y-"

"It doesn't matter what your name is. What are you doing here?"

Maria was completely bewildered by this jester that she was tripping on her words. "I came to friend find- I mean, I came here to find my friend."

"If you're trying to find NiGHTS, you're looking in the wrong place-"

"No. I'm looking for my friend Twylight."

Jolten looked completely confused. "Who now?"

"Twylight. They're a nightmaren like you," Maria replied, confusing Jolten even more.

"You must be delusional," he chuckled. "I know every nightmaren, and I mean _every_. I've been around since even before NiGHTS, and in all that time, I have _never_ met a nightmaren named Twylight."

"Well I guess you'll have to meet them then," Maria concluded, turning around to the castle. "Twylight, are you around?!"

From out of the corner of her eye, a portal formed, and Twylight peeked out, and motioned for her to follow. Maria looked back at Jolten who was looking at Maria with suspicion. "Um, I guess I'll be off, trying to find my friend," the writer shrugged awkwardly, stepping away from the jester.

" _Weird,"_ she heard under Jolten's breath, but decided to act like she didn't hear it, and walked away.

As she walked to the place where Twylight's portal, she felt a tug on her shirt, and was dragged backwards through a portal. On the other side of the portal was her rainforest Nightopia, but a different part which she was less familiar with. Beside her was a large waterfall which formed a just as large river, and on the other side was Twylight grinning down at her.

"So, do you want to look around more?"

"Sure!" Maria replied, following Twylight towards the waterfall. "Where are you leading me?" she asked.

"I found a cool little cave behind the waterfall," Twylight replied. "Although, you'll have to go under the waterfall, but I can carry you through it," she warned.

"That's fine," the human stated.

Quickly, the nightmaren swooped the dreamer into their arms, and dashed under the waterfall. On the other side of the waterfall was small opening, but as the two continued forward, it opened up into a huge cavern full of crystals, moss, and vines hanging from the ceiling. In the center of the room was a pedestal, which was surrounded by huge flower petals and leaves, like it was the center of a flower.

"What is that?" the girl inquired, looking at what stood on the pedestal. On the pedestal was a green, glistening gem that illuminated the room.

"I don't know, but it's beautiful," Twylight smiled. "Why don't we check it out?" The two approached the pedestal, assuming there was no danger, but as Twylight's foot brushed upon one of the leaves, the pedestal, and the whole flower receded underground. The ground began to rumble causing Maria to fall backwards as a new plant began to sprout. In the place of the pedestal now stood a huge Venus Fly Trap with spiky vines swinging about.

"Watch out! Twylight cries as a vine swung right at Maria. With no time for Maria to dodge, Twylight's body glowed for a second, and in place of their light mummy wrap and vest was a heavy set of armor, that looked like dragon skin. Twylight divided in front of Maria, and stopped the vine in midair.

"Whoa!" Maria gasped. "You can also transform your clothes?"

"Yes, but it's more than that." As two vines swung at them, Twylight's whole body glowed. Their form quickly expanded, morphing into a form that was no longer anthropomorphic. The light quickly dispersed. In the place of the jester was a shield and sword. " _Protect yourself_ ," the weapons commanded.

Immediately, Maria grabbed the shield, protecting herself from the vines. "What are you expecting me to do?" Maria asked hesitantly.

" _I think this creature is a nightmaren. We can make it powerless by cutting off the vines_ ," Twylight advised. Another vine swung right at Maria, and this time, Maria swung back with her sword slicing the vine off. Maria was tempted to celebrate, but it would be far too early.

As Maria continued to cut off vines, she notice the vines were slowly growing back out of ground. "This doesn't seem like it is doing anything," the girl murmured.

Once all of the vines surrounding the flower were cut, Maria decided to charge at the center, and cut the vines holding the flower bud up.

" _Maria, I think its weaknesses are the gems on its leaves. If you cut down it's stem, you can reach the gems, and crack them one by one."_

Once Maria had cut through the stem, and the bud fell, and landed next to her. Instantly, she began slashing at one of the yellow gems on one of its three leaves. But, once the gem was cracked, the bud rose again, and Maria was thrown off.

When Maria got up, the vines on the ground rose, surrounding the flower. "What do I do now?" Maria asked, breathlessly.

" _Try cutting down the vines again,"_ Twylight replied. Again, Maria began slicing at the vines, but as she cut in deeper, she found herself lost in the forest of prickly vines.

"Twylight! Where do I go?" Maria called desperately. With the vines closing in on her, Maria feared the worst. But, just at the last moment, she was carried into the air by her sword and shield.

From above the forest of prickly vines, Maria could see the flower bud with one of its petals drooping to the side. Without warning, the shield and sword dragged their user, and began slashing at a second gem fiercely. With the sound of shattering glass, the gem broke, and the second leaf fell. The two tried to stay on the flower, but they were once again thrown off.

Catching their friend in the air, the sword and shield carried Maria over the growth of slithering, writhing vines. They were about to go and attack the third gem, but a vine spouted up in front of them, waving about dangerously. After the two maneuvered themselves around the vine, they were greeted by similar, tall vines, surrounding the flower itself.

"We've got to cut down these vines before break the last gem!" Maria called to her sentient weapons. Without a pause, she and the sword slashed through the vines, protecting themselves from the thorns as they fell. Once they finished with the vines, they quickly finished off the last gem, with burst of adrenaline. With all of the gems shattered, the leaves and petals of the plant wilted until the only remaining features were the green crystal and its pedestal.

"Go ahead, take it," Twylight advised, returning to their normal form.

Maria slowly approached the crystal. As she neared it she could hear a faint pulsing hum. Once she took the crystal off of pedestal, all she could focus on was the crystal itself. She could feel the gem vibrating in her hand with the hums. Inside, there seem to be a faint glow.

"Pretty gem, isn't it?" a dark voice murmured in the shadows.

Maria was pulled out of her trance, as she looked around the cave to trace where the voice had come from. As she kept turning, she was startled by a claw on her shoulder. She whipped around to see Nightmayr grinning mischievously.

"Pretty gem. Can I see it?" the red-eyed nightmaren requested.

The writer felt extremely hesitant, but opened her hand to show the relic.

Nightmayr was about to swipe it out of her hand, but his sibling batted his hand away saying, "No. This crystal is Maria's. She found it."

He growled, but resorted to just observing her treasure.

Twylight and Maria ended up moseying back to the door slowly, taking in all of the sights of Frenzy Forest. Nightopians sang, and birds chirped and whistled. Upon exiting the door, Maria felt herself fading once more, welcoming the morning of the holiday.


End file.
